Should You Care About Aerobic Capacity?
The short answer is yes! But what is aerobic capacity and should you care about it?
Aerobic capacity is defined as “a measure of the ability of the heart and lungs to get oxygen to the muscles.”
When you think about a workout that uses the aerobic energy system, what probably comes to mind is a cardio workout and that it’s good for the heart and the cardiovascular system. But what you might not realize, is that improving your aerobic energy system is also important for the strength and endurance of the rest of the muscles in the body too.
Contrary to what you may have heard, doing cardio or “aerobic” workouts will not hurt your muscular gains. In fact, it will probably help them! Your aerobic energy system is the foundation for improving your overall fitness. Whether you want to be able to run faster, run farther, lift heavier, win a boxing/mma fight, or simply go up the stairs without feeling out of breath improving your aerobic capacity will no doubt help.
There is a simple breakdown (of a fairly complex subject) as to why. The aerobic system uses oxygen to create energy both during exercise and throughout our daily lives. When compared to the anaerobic energy systems, the aerobic system is not only has the largest amount of room for improvement, but it is also capable of producing sustained energy with less fatigue. Training your aerobic system will help to increase oxygen supply to the working muscles and increase how much oxygen the muscles can actually use. This means that as your aerobic capacity improves, your muscles will have more energy and endurance. More energy and endurance means less fatigue across all fitness (running, strength training, boxing/mma etc.). This means you can run for longer, fight longer, and lift more with less fatigue.
Unfortunately, many people think all “cardio” workouts are working the aerobic system and this is not the case. Most likely that HIIT class, bootcamp class, or interval class is not working your aerobic system. To improve your aerobic system your heart rate should be in zone 2 (or even 1), not zone 4 or 5. To improve your aerobic capacity think relatively easy and steady, a sustainable effort. This is not to say that HIIT workouts are bad, or that your shouldn’t work your anaerobic energy systems. In fact, its the exact opposite, we need to work BOTH systems.
One the best way to improve your aerobic capacity is through easy steady state (zone 2) cardio for 30-90 minutes two–three times per week. This can be done with running, biking, walking, swimming, rowing, or any other activity that you can keep doing for a sustained amount of time. Remember this should be a relatively easy effort, your pace here is not important. What is important is your level of effort, think an RPE (rate of perceived effort) around a 3 on a scale of 1-10 (1 = I can do this all day, 10= impossible/hardest effort ever). During this effort your should be able to have a conversation, if you can’t talk (or can only get in a few words) and are huffing and puffing, then the intensity that you’re working at is too hard.
If the thought of doing a steady state cardio activity for 30-90 minutes sounds like absolute torture to you, don’t worry, all is not lost! There are many other ways to improve your aerobic capacity. Such as a tempo workout! See the details below.
Example Tempo Strength Workout
The goal of this workout is to have your heart rate in a zone 2-3 effort for most of the workout, in the active rest portion, your heart rate may (or may not) drop to zone 1. If you are wearing a fitness watch with a heart rate monitor, aim to keep your heart rate below 150 bpm. If your heart rate is going higher than 150bpm reduce the amount of weight your are lifting.
In this workout we will do each rep for 4 seconds: 2 seconds eccentric (lowering phase), 2 seconds concentric (up phase), and no pause at the top or the bottom of the movement. We will do 8-10 reps per exercise with 30–40 seconds of rest between exercises for 3-5 sets.
The exercises: Complete 3-5 rounds. Tempo 2,0,2,0.
Squats (choose your variation: goblet, barbell front or back, double kettlebell etc.) x 8-10 reps
TRX Row or Pull-ups (use a band for assistance if needed) x 8-10 reps
RDL (dumbbell, kettlebell, barbell) x 8-10 reps
Chest Press (dumbbells, kettlebells, or barbell) x 8-10 reps
Active rest (walk, very easy jog etc.) x 6-8 minutes
Try completing this workout once per week for 2-3 weeks, you will need one week of rest before repeating. Feel free to switch out the exercises for ones that suit your goals or needs (compound or multi-joint exercises work best).